the EU & the UK

[MyNameIsTerry]

Brexit Day + 34


It's not the EU Parliament (formerly the Assembly) folks need to look to for being "taken care of"; it's the EU Commission! I've always assumed it's most likely "general apathy" which leads to low Euro-election turnouts. It all seems so pointless when the policy/decision-making is not actually carried out by the folks we're supposedly electing - the MEPs. There's a huge disconnection - little or no democracy - 'Democratic Deficit' (which is what that article discusses).

What's the prediction for Euro-election turnout in Britain this time, assuming we get to May 23rd without having 'left' the EU?

I think you are right about general apathy. What are our MEP's doing most of the time? We seem to see so little reporting and do we even recognise their names?

They do seem to do some things if the recent proposed legislation for internet copyright tightening is anything to go by. Perhaps the special interest groups get to use them to lobby stuff through whereas the rest of us wonder what they do?

Given Brexit I expect turnouts will be higher this time. If not, or if lower, that will really send the message most people are sick of all of it. Remain campaigners started the ball rolling by making this Ref2 but they've had their thunder stolen with Farage coming back and the potential for voting to go against them. I strongly suspect a good portion of votes to Farage as so many are sick of it all and will do it as a message...which if I'm honest is what I'm thinking of doing.

[Carnation]

Love it Pain. Probably was the work of Banksy

[MyNameIsTerry]

So, that's Tommy Robinson's ballot paper found then?

[MyNameIsTerry]

So, how did your area do? Mine swung even further away from a Labour stronghold:

Labour	16	-5
Conservative	15	+8
UKIP	0	-2
Independent	13	-1

Much has been made of the votes. It is interesting that yet again the polls made mistakes with Labour. But here is the only poll that matters:

Conservative	3562	-1334
Labour	2023	-82
Liberal Democrat	1350	+703
Green	265	+194
UKIP	31	-145
Others	1179	+662

Obviously the LibDems have made a major gain. Is this a swing from Tories who won't cross too far left? And from Labour voters who won't swing too far right? The Tory vote collapsed and the Labour vote remained stagnant.

It's the Tories are taking a major kicking over Brexit. What about Labour though? They filed to capitalise at all. All the markings of future hung Parliaments and coalitions here I reckon.

Big gains for the Greens too.

But for me the most interesting thing is the Others group. They gained almost as much.

Where is the protest vote in this? All over the place? But what is certain is both major parties are in trouble. I can't see how Labour are going to push further as Corbyn peaked before and is going nowhere now. His constant on the fence attitude is annoying people. Even after this his speech was on the fence about being the party for everyone. If you can't kick May when the Tories are in such a mess then how would you cope with a strong Tory party? And the Tories are heading for being booted out and I can only think it's because of Brexit.

But this might be good news for the LibDems and Greens as they may feel some of this love in the EU elections. I would imagine Tory & Labour results are going to be bad in those too looking and this...and then there is The Farage which is going to grab a fair few votes.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Yes, we are no party Better in some ways as it will make them work harder and not sit with their fit up waving stuff through for their mates

To be fair I can say I do know much more now about the finer details of it all than back then. I can say which agreement covers what at a level of detail that allows me to understand trade better and the NI border issue. However, my overall belief is still that the status quo is unsupportable for the UK and change is a must. I do have my concerns over trade. I'm less concerned about having to queue longer somewhere in the EU or similar minor annoyances I've seen raised. I do not believe we cannot encourage talent to come here and the NHS will be struggling because who we bring here is up to us and we import far beyond EU borders and have done long before the EU came into being in it's current guise.

I would put the same back to that MP. What do you know? This issue is so complex you have an army of civil servants to explain it to you and many of you still talk utter bollox and make mistakes in your speeches that through my research I can see show you don't understand the relationship. The CU issue with NI, for instance. That won't stop a border without the SM or similar regulatory control of product standards unless we and the EU agree to place the burden on the exporter/importer to self regulate. Yet you numpties seem to vote for it and push it as if it will solve NI. Or Common Market 2.0, a good way to disregard the biggest issue of the lot - FOM.

We know more now. But lets not pretend we understand the financial impact because it's all based on agreements we don't know will even happen and economists forecasts...and they have made big mistakes before. And Labour are fine ones to talk anyway as all we have is Corbyn's mysterious "McGuffin" which no one seems to know the real details of so how on earth can you forecast for it and we consider voting about it? Labour want a McGuffin in place, something we don't have the details, and they are arguing the public should vote have a referendum 2.0 because we know more now.

Hypocritical or slippery eel? Probably both really. Get off your fence Labour. Tell us what your deal really is. Stop blathering on about employment rights, standards and doing the best for everyone as it's as much a soundbite as May and her Red, White & Blue Brexit. But you won't because you are the opposition party so you can offer anything knowing you won't be held accountable for it. You won't tell Remainers you will back Brexit and end FOM and you won't tell Leavers you will honour them because you fear the impact to your seats.

[Hollow]

[KK77]

Pffft

[pulisa]

Baby James (named after his paternal Grandpater)- the Brexit antidote!

[MyNameIsTerry]

So that's what Bradley Walsh is up to these days

[MyNameIsTerry]

Baby James (named after his paternal Grandpater)- the Brexit antidote!

I reckon any leftovers of these will be coming on handy for a while...




Naming the baby after the paternal groan dad? Will he get to claim some royalties out of that one?

We thought we would never say it but...can we please have more news on Brexit